Jacket Java

Run by the FBLA club and the special education class, Jacket Java is stirring up new ideas. It first opened January 19, of last semester and has recently launched the start of its business for the 2011-2012 school year. Photo courtesy of Google images

Now open three days a week, during both lunches, is Fort Mill High School’s Jacket Java. Run by the FBLA club and the special education class, Jacket Java is stirring up new ideas. It first opened January 19, of last semester and has recently launched the start of its business for the 2011-2012 school year.

The Jacket Java originally began to help teach job skills in the form of a real classroom business and to raise money for the developmental disabilities program. Volunteer FBLA students work alongside the special education students to create a non-divided environment that, in other words, throws disability out of the window. The majority of the proceeds go towards the Jacket Java fund, while the remaining money goes towards incentives for the working students of the developmental disabilities class. These incentives may include occasional free drinks, field trips and/or fun outings. “The students work really hard and deserve something every now and then,” Mrs. Richardson, special education teacher, says.

Although currently only two flavors are offered, Jacket Java plans on creating a “blend two,” a smoothie in which students can blend two different flavors together. A current example of the “blend two” is The Stinger, a smoothie blend of strawberry and pina colada. “I love the strawberry mixed with pina colada; not too sweet and just right. It’s like a beautiful marriage,”Richardsonexplains. Jacket Java is continuing to serve iced and warm coffee with plans to introduce holiday beverages such as Russian Tea, which is a tea with a bit of citrus and spice.

The student workers of Jacket Java have learned to experience the task of interacting with others while producing a final objective. “I have really enjoyed meeting and greeting all the people who come and buy the drinks,” Summer McCrery, a fellow student and Jacket Java worker, says. Students are forced to build teamwork that in the end enables him/her to operate a student-run business. This business allows students to step forward and adults to step back.

Jacket Java is the only food service on campus in which a student can get his/her caffeine/sweet tooth fix. Try a beverage from Wednesday through Friday during both A and B lunch and be watchful for up and coming flavors. With a low price of $1.50 to $2.50 per beverage and zero artificial sweeteners, these beverages cannot be missed.